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SARAJEVO: CROATIAN HEAD OF DIPLOMACY GRLIĆ RADMAN CONFIRMED THAT ZAGREB WILL CONTINUE TO STRONGLY SUPPORT BIH APPROACH TO MEMBERSHIP IN EUROPEAN UNION




SARAJEVO, MAY 24 (ONASA-Hina) – The Croatian head of diplomacy confirmed on Wednesday in Sarajevo that Croatia will continue to strongly support the approach of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the entire Western Balkans to membership in the European Union, and for this it will use regional initiatives that offer additional opportunities. acceleration of that process.
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman in Sarajevo is participating in the 8th European Union Forum dealing with the strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region (EUSAIR) and in the annual meeting of the Council of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (JJI) at the level of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
On Wednesday, Croatia will take over from Bosnia and Herzegovina the chairmanship of this initiative, which was launched in 2000 with the signing of the Ancona Declaration with the aim of encouraging development, strengthening security and cooperation, and speeding up the process of European integration.
In addition to Croatia and BiH, Albania, Greece, Italy, San Marino, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia are also members.
Five years later, the European Union’s JJI initiative was launched with the aim of further strengthening cooperation, which would encourage faster European integration of the countries of the Western Balkans through sustainable growth, including tourism and environmental protection.
During the introductory ministerial panel Grlić Radman said that BiH as the presiding country has done an excellent job, which is proof of that country’s commitment to European and regional initiatives.
“We are loud advocates of the European perspective of BiH and this is part of our national strategy, which is based on the stability of the entire region,” Grlić Radman said.
As he said, Croatia will therefore do everything it can to help BiH meet the set criteria for EU membership by offering it and other countries in the region relatively fresh and relevant experiences from the accession process.
He said that he expected that BiH could open membership negotiations with the European Commission next year after it was granted candidate status at the end of 2022.
He announced that after taking over the presidency of the JJI Council, Croatia would use that position to successfully continue the negotiation process with the aim of accelerating European integration, but he emphasized that the enlargement strategy should be adapted to new challenges, especially in terms of fundamental rights and markets and the digital and green transition as well as resistances.
As a special challenge, Grlić Radman highlighted ensuring energy independence, which is becoming a key challenge.
He reminded that Croatia decided to triple the capacity of its liquefied gas terminal on Krk in order to guarantee energy security for all countries of the wider region.
Slovenian Regional Development Minister Aleksandar Jevšek also confirmed that his country sees JJI as an important instrument of cooperation and will continue to strongly support it.
European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Policy Oliver Varhelyi said in a video message to the participants of the Sarajevo meeting that EUSAIR is the only platform for Brussels to connect the Western Balkans with the EU.
He confirmed that the Union is ready to continue helping the region with the aim of encouraging sustainable development, but expects the Western Balkan countries to implement reforms in addition to mutual connection so that everything invested has the maximum effect.
BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković said that he considers EUSAIR to be an excellent platform for dialogue, which through the exchange of experiences should facilitate the process of European integration, while confirming that this is the absolute priority of the current authorities in his country, established based on the results of the October 2022 elections.